Shoggoth
: "At the Mountains of Madness" |created by = Howard Phillips Lovecraft }} |"At the Mountains of Madness"}} '''Shoggoths' are amorphous, shapeshifting beings. They were genetically engineered by the Elder Things as a race of servant-tools, but eventually rose up against their masters and drove them to extinction. Shoggoths are now found in isolated locales across Earth. Description A shoggoth is a sentient blob of self-shaping gelatinous flesh, something like a giant amoeba. A shoggoth is some fifteen feet in diameter if it shaped itself into a sphere, but larger and smaller versions exist. A shoggoth is capable of shaping itself into whatever organs or shapes it finds needful at the moment; however, in its usual state it tends to sport a roiling profusion of eyes, mouths, and pseudopodia. When encountered on the Southpole it was able to move at an incredible speed. It was described as watching a train closing in on someone standing on the traintracks. The shoggoth can kill it's enemies by enveloping them and generationg enough suction-force to decapicate their victims. That is specifically how they fought the Elder Things during their rebellion. Apparently they emit a horrible, overpowering stench that's strong enough to completely mask the alienating smell of the Elder Things. A curious behavior of the shoggoth is their repetitive cry of "Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!" This is believed to be a phrase uttered by the Elder Things during the Shoggoth's aeons of enslavement, possibly intended to spur the Shoggoth on with their given tasks. History The shoggoths were originally bred as servitor creatures by the Elder Things, who used them for underwater construction. Their ability to shape their bodies as needed made them ideal living construction machinery. Although created to be mindless, the shoggoths mutated through the aeons and slowly developed consciousness, and even became periodically rebellious. Eventually, they overthrew the Elder Things and killed them, and built their own cities ( : "At the Mountains of Madness") Their architecture mimics the five pointed symmetry of the Elder Things. Though rare, some shoggoths have managed to survive into the modern era, most notably in Antarctica and in the deepest parts of the world's oceans. The race of humanoid amphibious beings known as the Deep Ones are known to ally with or make use of shoggoths, sometimes referred to as "Sea Shoggoths" ( : The Burrowers Beneath [ Brian Lumley ]). The Mi-go also conducted their own Shoggoth experiments, performing "mind-grafts" on the Shoggoths to produce a tamer-breed easy for the Mi-Go to control telepathically. The resultant Mi-Go & Shoggoth hybrids are called 'ghol' or ghol-things.( :"The Perilous Legacy" [ Walter C. DeBill Jr. ]) One notorious shoggoth is Mr. Shiny (Albert Shiny) who takes the form of a human ( :At Your Door RPG Module) Trivia *The shoggoth's cry of "Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!" is directly taken from The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838) by Edgar Allen Poe, which was an influence on Lovecraft. In the tongue of the natives that live in Antarctica, "Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!" is used as an exclamation of woe and suffering. It is derived from the call of the white birds that flock around what is heavily implied to be a cosmic horror that resides at the South Pole. *The Brain of Mensis in Bloodborne was inspired by Shoggoths. *In the book by Dean R. Koontz, Phantoms and the film based on it, the Monster that empties an entire Ski-resort town is recognizable as a Shoggoth. *There is a children's book called Where is my Shoggoth? *There is a mobile game called Shoggoth Rising. *A champion in the online game League of Legends, Cho'Gath, is named after Shoggoth. *The Smooze, a villain who appears in the 1986 my little pony movie, appears to be partially inspired by Shoggoths. **The character was recreated for the later incarnation of the show, but much tamer, and less like a Shoggoth. *The main villain in the Legacy of Kain game series is a monster inspired by Shoggoth. *In The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim the daedra, Hermaus Mora, has a physical representation inspired by Shoggoth. *The "Gibbering Mouther" from the tabletop RPG Dungeons and Dragons are inspired by Shoggoth. Gallery Shoggoth_(Yuji_Kaida).jpg Shoggoth_(Borja_Pindado).jpg Shoggoth_by_pahko.jpg Shg2 .jpg Shoggoth_(Cultists_of_Cthulhu).jpg|Shoggoth (Cultists of Cthulhu) Shoggoth_(Dark_Horse_Comics).jpg|Shoggoth (Weird Detective) Shoggoth_(GobboTown_Games).jpg|Shoggoth (Cthulhu: Xothic Wars) Shoggoth_(Boom!_Studios).jpg|Shoggoth (Necronomicon) Shoggoth_(Dabel_Brothers_Production).jpg|Shoggoth (The Dresden Files) Shoggoth_(Paizo_Inc).jpg|Shoggoth (Pathfinder) Shoggoth_(Top_Shelf_Productions_&_Knockabout_Comics).jpg|Shoggoth (Nemo, Heart of Ice) Elder_Things_&_Shoggoth_(Avatar_Press).jpg|Elder Things & Shoggoth (Providence) Shoggoth_(2016_At_the_Mountains_of_Madness).jpg|Shoggoth (2016 movie, At the Mountains of Madness) Shoggoth_(Image_Comics).jpg|Shoggoth (The Strange Adventures of H.P. Lovecraft) Shoggoth_(Marvel_Comics).jpg|Shoggoth (Conan the Savage) AstoundingMountains.jpg|Original illustration 02-shoggoth.jpg shoggoth___by_nightserpent-d83erfe.jpg Shoggoth_(South_Park).jpg|Shoggoth (South Park) Shoggoth_(TSR).jpg|Shoggoth (Dungeons & Dragons) Lga-1 .jpg References es: Category:Species Category:Sentient species Category:Earth native species Category:Biological experiments Category:Elder Thing technology Category:Marvel (Cthulhu Mythos) Category:Lifeforms of Earth Category:Pathfinder (Cthulhu Mythos) Category:Hyborian (Cthulhu Mythos)